Plant Advice

[justin85]

Hi,

I started a small iwagumi tank (55L) about 6 weeks ago now, I only used Eleocharis acicularis as i wanted to have a dence carpet. So far it is doing good, lots of runners but the colour isn't a verry bright green and at the base of the plant its brown/yellow colour. My question is: How do i get the best colour out of this plant ?

I am using Co2 and ferts (ADA Series + Bright K + EasyCarbo)

Anyhelp or advice would be great.

 

[ian]

which ada ferts are you using??

step 1 or 2?

 

[justin85]

which ada ferts are you using??

step 1 or 2?

Just step 1 at the moment

 

[ian]

I would ensure that the flow to the substrate was good enough, and maybe add a little more Fe to the water column.

 

[justin85]

I would ensure that the flow to the substrate was good enough, and maybe add a little more Fe to the water column.

Because of the tank dimensions mainly the high of the tank its not possible to angle the outflow down. Do you think I should add a powerhead or wave maker?

 

[ian]

the problem is that it would look quite unsightly in there as you have all that nice glassware. Does the grass wave at the bottom?

you can buy glassware that directs to the substrate, i think Tankscape sell the outlets

http/www.tankscape.co.uk/Flo-Superfluo-Glass-Lily-Pipe-Outlet-16mm

it might be worth dropping Andy @ Tankscape a email to ask him. One of these would be more beneficial in your tank as you don't have a mixture of plants, so it's quite imperative that you get the flow down at the substrate.

 

[justin85]

the problem is that it would look quite unsightly in there as you have all that nice glassware. Does the grass wave at the bottom?

you can buy glassware that directs to the substrate, i think Tankscape sell the outlets

http/www.tankscape.co.uk/Flo-Superfluo-Glass-Lily-Pipe-Outlet-16mm

it might be worth dropping Andy @ Tankscape a email to ask him. One of these would be more beneficial in your tank as you don't have a mixture of plants, so it's quite imperative that you get the flow down at the substrate.

Cheers mate, I will have a look at that now. The grass on one side and partially around the front wave but not much. when I was planing this tank I picked the eheim filter as I thought it would produce enough flow.

 

[ian]

which Eheim do you have on it??

 

[justin85]

That looks loads better! I will order the 12mm one and see if that does any better.

Thanks mate.

Also, Do you think this might help: Here

which Eheim do you have on it??

Classic 2213

 

[ian]

you might as well for the price...free delivery as well. I actually ordered from him yesterday and got it today.


you have to be a little careful with ADA products (as much as i love them, you can often do things cheaper). Some will argue that that stuff is snake oil, other will swear by it.


That Eheim, should be enough

 

[justin85]

you might as well for the price...free delivery as well. I actually ordered from him yesterday and got it today.


you have to be a little careful with ADA products (as much as i love them, you can often do things cheaper). Some will argue that that stuff is snake oil, other will swear by it.


That Eheim, should be enough

My problem is I see all these amazing tanks Takasgi Amano does and uses nothing but ADA products, And i get hooked on it.

I have ordered the outlet

what ferts do you use on your tanks mate ?

 

[ian]

have you got any aquajournals and his books?? They are worth a read as they always give you his fert regimes. He relies heavily on his substrates (as we all should), he always uses substrates packed with trace, N and P. His fert regimes are as yours are, so a few pumps of step 1 and backed up with some extra K+. These do work, but they are just simple trace elements, granted they are trace elements at different concentrations. They obviously work, but they can be expensive for what they actually are.

You can mix you own trace by the copious amounts of trace element compounds mixtures on the net. You can buy your own...

my dosing regime at present is as follows,

Flourish 3mls a day
Flourish Fe 5 mls every other day
Flourish K 3 mls a day
Seachem Aquavitro green envy 5 mls every 3 days (whther or not this works i don't know! lol)

as above you can mix your own, or you can buy. I find it easier to buy my own stuff. I have tried the ADA stuff, and can't really justify the the cost of the above in ADA products (it would cost, £130). The Seachem product are almost in the same concentrations but thos lot would cost £35 for the lot.

I'm not dosing N and P at the moment, i'm monitoring at the moment, to see if i can rely on the soils as amano does.